Treo 500 Due This Week

WMExperts has posted new information on the Treo 500 (aka Gandolf) first leaked here back in June. The site has a new photo that looks similar to the recent black Centro images. They claim that it will in fact be called the Treo 500v and is what will be announced on Sept 12th. As the "v" suffix suggests, it's coming to you via Vodafone, Palm's previous partners-in-crime on the Treo 750v. Like that device, it features a 3G UMTS radio and should be upgradeable to HSDPA - if it isn't already included. It is also said to include a 240x320 non-touchscreen display, a 2 megapixel camera and a microSD expansion slot.

Contrary to previous speculation, it appears this mystery device is not going to come in Palm's new, smaller Centro form factor, but will be a larger variant thereof - somewhere between the Centro and the new 680/75x style.

Style-wise, the 500v will see the return of the "straight" QWERTY board of the Treo 600 (abandoning the "smile" design of the Treo 650 onwards) and has rearranged the application buttons. Like the Centro, it also features a new circular D-pad that was last seen on the ill-fated Mobile-Manager-that-must-not-be-named. (Okay - quietly, now - it was the Lifedrive.)

No screenshots have emerged as of yet, but it's likely to include Palm's usual repetoire of WinMob UI enhancements and plugins.

RE: 500p

>Contrary to previous speculation, it appears this mystery device is not going to come in Palm's new, smaller Centro form factor, but will be a larger variant thereof - somewhere between the Centro and the new 680/75x style.

RE: 500p

I didn't say anything here about GPS here! True, I was hoping for it a while back but after the Fooleo debacle I pretty much gave up hope on Palm EVER getting it together--certainly on the Treo line, at least. This just goes to show that Colligan's comments about a "Mercedes" high-end Treo were more hollow promises. It's the most critical season of the year for product introductions and Palm is trotting out two "downgraded" entry level models. Remember when October was the time when Palm traditionally released high-end Tungsten devices!?!

And wi-fi? It's not going to appear as standard BUT I'm still hedging my bets that Palm will release a Palm-branded miniSDIO wi-fi card in the near future. It can utilize the wi-fi drivers that are built into all of their WinMob Treos (or made available to download for WM devices only if not). Something just like this one, in fact:

In one of the odd Palm nods to usability while still staying in the stone age, I could see them doing future Centro/Treo 500 designs with mini or microSD slots under the battery with an extended/deeper cutout to accomodate the longer wi-fi cards so they don't protrude out of the device (see the pics in the link above). Then Palm keeps the carriers happy (no wi-fi standard), can advertise their new products as wi-fi compliant to end users like us, and have another overpriced Palm-branded product to sell at their stores & kiosks.

By the way, isn't it funny how expansion cards were all the rage a few years ago? But now companies are either going without removable expansion media at all (Apple), downgrading in size/speed/usability (Palm) or going with card slots that are under batteries and/or otherwise nearly impossible to reach (nearly all new dumbphones on the market)? Companies still see expandable memory in devices as a threat to their bottom line. It's like digital camera manufacturers are operating in a universe separate from all other CE products on the market!

RE: 500p

== "...I have decided to...focus all of our energies on delivering our== next generation platform and the first smartphones that will bring== this platform to market. We will, of course, continue to develop== products in partnership with Microsoft on the Windows Mobile platform,== but from our internal platform development perspective, we will focus== on only one..."

pretty much explain about that Mercedes...

honestly

It's embarrassing. This is what Palm decides to go Apple about with a mysterious launch date? A touch screenless winmob device, with the same small screen and what looks to be no 5-way directional pad.

I guess dropping the touch-screen was a mistake

I haven't played around with Windows Mobile 6, so I don't know how usable the UI would be without a pen, or how much more usable it would be with a pen. But text-entering wise Palm should have a lot of customers already convenient with Graffiti 1. Graffiti One thanks to being unistroke and well-designed is *fast* and *accurate*. And if I'm not mistaken WM has some sort of text entery just like Palm's Graffiti One. Personally I'd prefer to graffiti on the screen than to type on that little keyboard. Thanks to Giraffe I do 30wpm on graffiti one.

These mistakes are not the sort that Jeff Hawkins would make. It's interesting to know how much influence he has on Palm's products these days. What's going on there?? :))

RE: I guess dropping the touch-screen was a mistake

Thinking out loud about a few questions we haven't seen answers to yet:

1. What will the battery capacity battery be? My guess is 1200mAh. Fixed or removable? And will it share the same battery design with the Centro?

2. 2.0mp camrea & BT 2.0 is quite nice for a lower-end Treo....and the screen resolution trups all current WinMob Treos. Touchscreen aside, this thing might really steal sales from the 750! Palm needs to release a 320x320, WM6 Pro refresh of the Treo 750 *ASAP*. And even a mild refresh of the 700wx (755 formfactor, WM6 Pro) wouldn't be bad for the CDMA market. I'm really surprised Palm hasn't tried to update their existing WM Treos so far....unless, as SV has hinted at time and time again, they are going to let the Taiwanese ODMs do all of their heavy lifting so that can put all of their energies on the final FrankenGarnet devices and (presumably) getting PLinux bug-free and eventually to market.

3. Since this one can use A2DP for stereo headphone purposes, does that mean we might luck out and get a proper 3.5mm stereo headphone jack on the Centro?

4. Will anyone in the US carry this thing? Does at&t care about ANYTHING Palm-branded anymore? Maybe Palm will just sell a cheap unlocked version of this to domestic customers via palm.com since I think at&t is still iPhone-obsessed at the moment. Does this one support 1900mhz?

5. Yes, ExPalmUser2, WinMob (is it still in WM6, actually?) has what they call "block recognition" which is EXACTLY the same thing as Graffiti 1. Astounding. Does M$ just pay Xerox royalties for this (I've always wondered that)?

While I love the Treo's thumboard, I'd still give it up in a heartbeat if I could get a decently-sized, bright 320x480 LCD on a Treo alongside a decent metal stylus and Graffiti 1.

6. Yes, Hawkins would make these sorts of mistakes. Just look at how it took the Treo to lose its ungainly external antennae and then again at the Foleo disaster. The lean, mean, and hungry Hawkins of yore wouldn't have made those mistakes. But the rich, content, and bored Hawkins of 2007 would not bother whittling down a block of wood nor would he employ a tap counter.

P.S. I wonder how many taps (and minutes) it would require to pair a laggy, crashing FrankenGarnet Treo with a Fooleo for BT DUN?

RE: I guess dropping the touch-screen was a mistake

This Treo is supposed to use Windows Mobile Standard (smartphone, non-touchscreens) and therefore will not need any kind of handwriting recognition. It also uses a good deal of keyboard-based bnavigation, such as being able to navigate the start menu via hitting Start then a number button corresponding to a program on the list. Navigation is a good deal better than with on touchscreen WM devices, and having used one (a Windows Mobile Smartphone device), there is a lot that transfers in terms of user experience to PalmOS Treos. One could even argue much moreso than WM Professional does.

mobileministrymagazine.comantoinerjwright.com

RE: I guess dropping the touch-screen was a mistake

@twizza: I once played around with HP iPAQ hw6945 and gave it's tiny keyboard a try. You know it works but the convenience and speed of text entry was no way (for me) close to Graffiti One (block recognizer). So personally if I had to enter text on that device I'm almost sure I'd always use Graffiti instead of the keyboard. I'd use the keyboard for dialing a phone number one-handedly or entering a (preferably!) short text with one hand. That's why I guess the presence of the touchscreen is a convenient feature (so it is important). Specially when you have enough big screen to see the block-recognizer and the text you are entering and also you have enough room on the screen to move you stylus (remember Palm's Graffiti tip? Write big!). Non-touch screen would be appropriate for smartphones with very small screens (like that of Nokia 3230: 176x208 pixels 2"). The screen on this is not that huge but it's not amongst the smallest on cellphones either. So still I'd vote for it having a touch-screen. Maybe the decision was made to keep the price down? It's interesting to know how much more expensive it would be with a touchscreen and (appropriate WM).

RE: OT: MIA?

TVoR is....ahem, likely not going to be appearing anywhere anytime soonE-T I believe was banned from PIC.

Adama still pops in now & again but he's also had his fill of all things Palm it appears.

Chia....I suppose he moved on as well.

But yeah, I was just noticing the other day how a good number of the "PIC regular" have faded away recently. I think the combination of no compelling new products from Palm, the 700p fiasco, and the Fooleo debacle really shut the door for a lot of folks. And I'd imagine all of the big news from Apple has not helped matters for Palm either.

RE: OT: MIA?

it's weird - none of us know each other except for words on a screen yet in a way, we all know each other.

i guess someday soon each of us will move on never to be heard from again.

"Strange is our situation here upon earth. Each of us comes for a short visit, not knowing why, yet sometimes seeming to divine a purpose. From the standpoint of daily life, however, there is one thing we do know: that man is here for the sake of other men." - Albert Einstein

RE: OT: MIA?

I just can't seem to care about these incremental stumbles towards the edge of the cliff. I keep thinking to myself how they had to kill off the Foleo so someone wouldn't get distracted from their inability to stay focused, yet here we have windows mobile sloggig up the same old tired pixels.

Have you ever done email on a windows mobile device? It's a freaking joke. Slow as hell and funky too. So 'good job Palm' stay focused on what matters (the heard?) and keep those low res windows non-touch screens coming. Throw in a sprinkling of lame duck Palm OS systems. The market and I dare say the profit margin on featherweight laptop-like systems that communicate with phones has *got* to be greater than these lame hardware they keep throwing at the carrier walls to see what sticks.

An there's Apple putting out a PDA music player Internet device in the same form factor as their phone. What a concept. They've already got the production facilities running. It's like business school 101 existing product variant to extended market.

RE: Centro next to Treo photo

Thinking behind the new design

One thing about the Centro/Treo 500 design: the whole keypad area looks somewhat "cleaned up" compared to the Treos. The impression is of a simpler device, even though you have the same controls there. I'm betting that having the call and app launching buttons large, flat, and in their own "belt" reduces the "QWERTY shock" that even Brody Keast once mentioned some people have when they look at a Treo.

Of course, there's another way to reduce QWERTY shock. (Cue the PIC 320x480 chorus!)

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